Two men stand working in the afternoon sun just yards from the US-Mexico border. Clad in hard hats and work shirts, tool belts slung around their waists, they have been toiling at this spot in the Arizona desert since early October. One holds an iron stanchion while the other bolts a horizontal bar to it. But before the joint can be tightened, the whole structure starts to sway. A shout goes up: "Watch out!" The five metre pole lurches toward the dry red earth, bringing its neighbour down with it. The latest weapon in the fight against undocumented migrants looks a little shaky. The iron and steel fence is the latest project from the Minutemen, the volunteer group of anti-immigration activists that has placed itself at the sharp end of the immigration debate since launching a highly publicised series of border watches in 2005. Now, frustrated at what the group sees as the inaction of government, it has taken matters a step further, building its own border fence at a cost of around $1m... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Asian companies may face Internet disruptions in the first trading day of the year as carriers rush to fix submarine cables severed by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks off southern Taiwan. Trading and online banking services may be slow because of traffic congestion as Asian markets including Hong Kong and South Korea resume operations after the New Year holidays. Cable operators such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and Hong Kong's PCCW Ltd. are using backup fiber-optic links and satellite systems to reroute Internet access. Businesses that rely on electronic communications between the region and North America, such as trading companies, banks and stock brokerages, may suffer the most if repair work drags. Work on one cable was delayed by a week because of engine trouble on one of the repair boats and bad weather. `Internet users visiting overseas Web sites may experience slow response or congestion'' ...http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aippAH0pG8w8&refer=exclusive

Daya Rakha, 36, was born in the jungles of the Gir wildlife sanctuary in western India and knows little else except how to live off the forest's resources. Just as his ancestors did generations ago, Daya ekes out a meager living mainly by tending to his cattle which relentlessly graze in Gir's lush forests. But Daya — like millions of India's forest dwellers — has never been able to call the forest his home. Instead he has been treated as a criminal by authorities as he has no legal right to stay in the forests where his forefathers lived and died. "It is the eviction notices from the government and rules made to uproot us by the forest officials that give us sleepless nights," said Daya, who belongs to the 8,400-strong Maldhari tribe of Gir. Over 40 million of India's most impoverished and marginalized people live in the country's forests — including tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks — but for years have been neglected by ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2764219

As enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq's Sunni heartland Monday, government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500. The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year. The Associated Press accounting, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths. The United Nations has said as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day, which translates into 36,500 deaths annually. In Samarra, a mob broke the locks off a bomb-damaged Shiite shrine and marched through carrying a mock coffin and photo of the dictator. The demonstration in the Golden Dome, shattered in a bombing by Sunni extremists 10 months ago, ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2764209

An upscale resort where a guest was exposed to fatal dose of carbon monoxide had been told that another family at the hotel had been treated days earlier for the toxic fumes, a hospital official said. Thomas Leuders, 26, and his father Richard, 53, were found unconscious in their fourth-floor room at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort from carbon monoxide poisoning Dec. 27. Thomas Leuders died at a nearby hospital, while his father survived emergency treatment. An Iowa family that stayed in the same room was treated for exposure to the fumes six days earlier, Key West Fire Chief David Fraga said in a statement released Saturday. The medical center where the family was treated "did notify the Doubletree hotel of the potential carbon monoxide exposure," Lower Keys Medical Center's chief operating officer, Meylan Lowe-Watler, said in a statement, according to The Miami Herald. "Police, rescue and fire personnel were also aware of the events," he said. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2764224

As of Monday, Jan. 1, 2007, at least 3,002 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,397 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The AP count is 19 higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EST. The British military has reported 127 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 18; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, one death each. The count includes two deaths listed by the Department of Defense that could not be verified as Iraq-related casualties by the AP. The latest deaths reported by the military: ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2764223